The Throne Room

Queen Anne

Queen Anne

The Palace

Abigail Arrives

Lady Sarah

Abigail Takes Aim

The Palace

Queen Anne Goes Mad

Queen Anne’s Bedroom

Switch to Fish Eye

A Knight in Shining Armor

A Competition Emerges

Royal Fun

Abigail

Lady Sarah Gets Splattered

A Royal Dance

Fire at Dinner

Nicholas Hoult

Ornate Costuming

Following “The Lobster” and “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos is heading to 18th century England and taking a stab at historical period drama with “The Favourite.” The film stars Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, and Olivia Coleman and opens November 23 via Fox Searchlight. Watch “The Favourite” trailer here, and click through the gallery for the shots that already have us buzzing.

The trailer begins with a gorgeous shot of Queen Anne’s throne room. Lanthimos and cinematographer Robbie Ryan appear to be taking a page from Stanley Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon” in these scenes by only filming with natural lighting.

Olivia Colman stars as Queen Anne, the mad ruler of England who is more concerned with duck races and pineapples than her country’s war against France. Coleman and Lanthimos worked together on “The Lobster.”

Robbie Ryan is best known as Andrea Arnold’s cinematographer, having shot “Fish Tank” and “American Honey.” The DP has experience with unorthodox period dramas, having been behind the camera for Arnold’s “Wuthering Heights” adaptation.

“The Favourite” marks the first collaboration between Ryan and Lanthimos, who worked with Thimios Bakatakis on “The Lobster” and “The Killing of a Sacred Deer.” The trailer makes it clear the clash between Lanthimos’ zany storytelling and Ryan’s grand images will be one of the film’s humurous strengths.

Emma Stone stars as Abigail, a new servant to Queen Anne with plans of her own to become the ruler’s trusted servant. “The Favourite” marks Stone’s debut in a Lanthimos-directed feature.

Rachel Weisz reunites with Lanthimos after “The Lobster” to take on the role of Lady Sarah, Queen Anne’s friend and adviser. Lady Sarah is governing the country as Queen Anne goes mad, but her position of power is threatened by the arrival of Abigail.

Ryan frames the characters in the center of the screen when they are in a position of power (as we see in this shot of Abigial with a gun) and opts for lots of negative space in other scenes depicting their power imbalance.

Lanthimos and Ryan channel Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” in the way they elevate Queen Anne’s opulance through energized camera motions and sweeping shots of her palace. The film was shot at the Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, England.

Colman stole the show with her supporting turn in “The Lobster,” and her mad turn as Queen Anne looks to do the same in “The Favourite.” Samantha Denyer served as hair supervisor and makeup supervisor on set.

Ryan and Lanthimos’ wide shots engulf their characters in the materialism of the palace, another trademark of Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette.” Outside of Andrea Arnold, Ryan has also worked with Noah Baumbach, Stephen Frears, and Ken Loach.

One shot in the trailer stands out for adapting a fish eye lens effect that distorts the natural perspective of the room. We’ll have a better idea about why Ryan and Lanthimos opted for a lens change when the film is released.

Production on “The Favourite” began in March 2017. The film’s November release date makes it an easy candidate for numerous fall film festivals as Fox Searchlight hopes to strike awards season hard after “Three Billboards” and “The Shape of Water” last year.

The power struggle between Lady Sarah and Abigail takes center stage in “The Favourite.” Speaking to IndieWire in June 2017, Weisz compared the storyline to a funnier and sexier “All About Eve.”

The shot of a naked man dodging flying fruit is the trailer’s most provactive image. The splattered tomatoes resemble blood dripping down the back wall as Ryan and Lanthimos visually represent the consequences of the throne’s attention to fun and games over war.

Stone has not been incredibly prolofic in the two years since “La La Land” opened and went on to earn the actress the Oscar. “The Favourite” marks her second post-“La La Land” release after last year’s “Battle of the Sexes.”

“The Favourite” is Weisz’s second high profile release of 2018 following her starring turn in Sebastián Lelio’s “Disobedience,” which opened this April to strong reviews.

The decision to use natural lighting in the throne room grounds “The Favourite’ in its historical 18th century setting, which only allows Lanthimos’ trademark deadpan humor to feel heightened and comically out of place.

The film’s production designer is Fiona Crombie, who has experience with period dramas having worked on “Macbeth” and “Mary Magdalene.”

The trailer is dominated by the films’ three female leads, but Nicholas Hoult also debuts as statesman Robert Harley. Harley served as Queen Anne’s chief minister.

The film’s costumes were designed by Oscar-winning legend Sandy Powell, whose credits include “Carol,” “Cinderella,” “The Young Victoria,” and more.